chagrin
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
chagrins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chagrined,
past participle, past
-
chagrinned,
past participle, past
-
chagrining,
present participle
-
chagrinning
present participle
-
to vex by disappointment or humiliation.
The rejection of his proposal chagrined him deeply.
-
Obsolete. shagreen.
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See shame.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
chagrinsimple
-
chagrinssimple
-
have chagrinedperfect
-
have chagrinnedperfect
-
has chagrinedperfect
-
has chagrinnedperfect
-
am chagriningprogressive
-
am chagrinningprogressive
-
are chagriningprogressive
-
are chagrinningprogressive
-
is chagriningprogressive
-
is chagrinningprogressive
-
have been chagriningperfect progressive
-
have been chagrinningperfect progressive
-
has been chagriningperfect progressive
-
has been chagrinningperfect progressive
Past
-
chagrinedsimple
-
chagrinnedsimple
-
had chagrinedperfect
-
had chagrinnedperfect
-
was chagriningprogressive
-
was chagrinningprogressive
-
were chagriningprogressive
-
were chagrinningprogressive
-
had been chagriningperfect progressive
-
had been chagrinningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chagrin
First recorded in 1650–60; from French; origin unknown
Explanation
Chagrin is a noun that represents an emotion or feeling and it's an uncomfortable one. If you feel chagrin, it means that you are embarrassed or distressed as a result of a failure. The word chagrin, a noun, comes from the French word of the same spelling and means "melancholy, anxiety, vexation." An odd fact about the word in English is that it had been thought to be related to another, similar-sounding word, shagreen, "rough, untanned leather." When one mistakes one word as a relative of another, it's called "false etymology."
Vocabulary lists containing chagrin
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Yoon’s prickly, unlikable James is the character many will align with, to their chagrin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
When I finally did, age 30, I realized to my chagrin that in following his footsteps, I hadn’t scratched the surface of his intellectual journey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Monday’s court ruling, to the chagrin of Mr. Musk, settled one question.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
To my chagrin but not my surprise, no one else in the theater came with their tail tucked between their legs, covered by a trench coat.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
The old man chuckled heartily at Nately’s look of chagrin.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Hector the dog delights and chagrins them in equal measure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2018
However, while Carter's crusty editorializing delights thousands of listeners, it chagrins thousands more, keeps him in a perpetual controversial stew.
From Time Magazine Archive
These chagrins he took as a wise man should.
From Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Essay 4: Joseph de Maistre by John Morley
Lucky youth, devoid of cares, responsibilities, and chagrins!
From Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned by Christopher Morley
I perceived the chagrins from which they secretly suffered—the tears behind the laughter.
From The Prodigal Returns by Lilian Staveley
Scott was chagrined, she says, both because she had scheduled many meetings during other people’s dinner hours and because she hadn’t considered that fathers also want to have meals with their children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025
The front end, which was also a trunk, came up right to my rib cage, a contact point that would have chagrined any high school football coach as bad tackling form: too high.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025
A rather chagrined Mr Ko told a room full of reporters that he had been tricked into the agreement - and that he should not have negotiated with the KMT alone, without any advisers present.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2023
During a “lightning round” of queries, Christie was chagrined when MacCallum asked him about government investigations of UFOs.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
You just can’t tell what he’s really thinking, Mr. Richardson thought, and then, instantly chagrined, What a terrible thing to think.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
Last week publicity-hating President Tew was chagrinned to find his name very much in the news.
From Time Magazine Archive
On his Thanksgiving vacation he had missed five successive quail and gone home chagrinned.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many another influence close to the Administration was similarly chagrinned.
From Time Magazine Archive
Peter Slade was much chagrinned to have the victory snatched from him, and began to mutter something about the race not being a fair one.
From The Rover Boys on the Farm or Last Days at Putnam Hall by Edward Stratemeyer
He was surprised and a little chagrinned by the weakness he had discovered; he could not understand how it had escaped him before.
From The Return of Blue Pete by Luke Allan
Cecil's unfortunate encouragement of the night before—displayed more with a view to chagrining Sir Penthony than from a mere leaning toward coquetry—has fanned his passion to a very dangerous height.
From Molly Bawn by Margaret Wolfe Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
